Annual Report 2013 - UNDP...Upazila Parishad Manual, a compendium of Rules, Circulars, and Government Orders (GOs) related to UZP to facilitate effective functioning of UZP. Significant

Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)Local Government Division (LGD),Ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives

Annual Report 2013

Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)Local Government Division (LGD),

Ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives

Annual Report 2013

This publication is formal publication of Upazila Governance Project (UZGP). The document has been

produced with the financial assistance of the contributing donors of the UZGP i.e. the European Union

(EU), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), UNDP and UNCDF. The views expressed

herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the supporting donors.

Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)

June 2014

Md. Shah Kamal, Additional Secretary (Admin), LGD & National Project Director, UZGP

Md. Akram Al-Hossain, Joint Secretary, LGD & Focal Person, UZGP

Shaila Khan, Assistant Country Director, Local Governance Cluster, UNDP

Mozammel Haque, Project Manager, UZGP

Nazrul Islam, Programme Analyst, UNDP

Ataul Gani Osmani, Communications Officer, UZGP

Md. Mizanur Rahman, Monitoring & Evalution Officer, UZGP

Annual Report 2013

Published in

Editorial Board

Table of ContentsMESSAGES 04

LIST OF ACRONYMS 06

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 07

UZGP AT A GLANCE 08

Brief Introduction of UZGP 08

Implementation Modality 09

Geographical Coverage 10

Key Achievements of 2013 11

UZGP YEAR IN NUMBERS 12

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS AND RESULTS 14

Output 1: 14

Output 2: 21

Output 3: 27

Output 4: 31

CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD 32

Challenges 32

Sustainability 33

Way Forward 33

ANNEXES 34

Annex-1 Progress Made Against LFM Indicators 34

Annex-2 Statement of Expenditure 2013 37

Annex-3 IEC Materials and Knowledge Products 37

Annex-4 UZGP in News 40

UZGP in Photos 42

Decentralization and local governments are recognized as basic components of democratic governance for creating

an enabling environment in which decision-making and service delivery can be brought closer to the people. There

is growing evidence that improved local governance practices, such as the adoption of local-level participatory

planning and budgeting, result in increased efficiency and effectiveness in promoting local infrastructure and

delivering services.

The Government of Bangladesh upholds its commitment to strong local government institutions at different levels

through active participation of the people through elected representatives in the administration as well as initiating

development activities targeting the poor and vulnerable.

The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) is an initiative on the part of the Government of Bangladesh to fulfill some of

its commitments towards promoting devolution of authority as well as decentralized service delivery. The

Government of Bangladesh, through the Local Government Division (LGD) in partnership with its development

partners, including European Union (EU), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), has been implementing

UZGP since 2012 to further strengthen local level democracy and ensure transparent and accountable service

delivery.

The year 2013 is marked by some significant achievements by UZGP such as regular holding of monthly meeting and

ensuring participatory planning and budgeting by majority of Upazila Parishads. The project has contributed in

influencing and positively impacting institutional practices and attitudes towards qualitative changes that start from

conduct of Upazila Parishad monthly meeting to annual planning and budgeting. It is providing opportunity to

government and elected officials at local level to interact, dialogue and coordinate their mandates, which is

consequently strengthening local demand driven development and service delivery. Mainstreaming elected

women at the local level through project activities, and formation of Women Development Forum have provided

them with an opportunity to have a collective voice.

I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to our development partners and would like to reaffirm that the

Government will remain steadfast in strengthening local government systems, practices and institutions in

Bangladesh.

Message from Senior Secretary, LGD

Monzur HossainSenior Secretary

Local Government Division (LGD)

Ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives

The Government of Bangladesh recognizes the need for strengthened and responsive local government institutions

in order to serve the citizen with improved service delivery. The consolidation of local democracy and strengthening

of local government move simultaneously that help ensure accountable and improved service delivery at the local

level. The local government institutions can manage public resources and serve the people, and they also have the

desire to do so. The Government, together with its development partners, is extending its support to materialize this

desire of local government for providing efficient public service delivery and further strengthen local democracy.

The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), since its inception, has supported to build the capacity of elected and

government officials to enable Upazila Parishad (UZP) to further strengthening democratic practices in serving their

constituents. The project-supported capacity development initiative has resulted in MDG-oriented Planning,

Budgeting and improved service delivery at Upazila level. The project also provides performance-based block grants

to select Upazilas to implement development schemes that benefit tens of thousands of people in rural Bangladesh.

I am pleased to share some of the achievements of the project. UZGP has contributed to ensure efficient functioning

of Upazila Parishad as 70 per cent of the UZPs held mandatory monthly meetings in 2013 as compare to 30 per cent

in 2012. Cent per cent of the UZPs formed Standing Committees as compare to 50 per cent in 2012, while 40 per cent

of the UZP Standing Committees were operationalized. The project also contributed to enhance the effectiveness of

Upazila Parishad through technical guidelines, dialogues and drafting of necessary Rules and Regulations.

The project further strengthened institutional practices as 100 per cent UZPs prepared Annual Budget as compare

to only 20 per cent in 2012. Fourteen select UZPs could prepare and publish their first ever Annual Plan Books with

Five-year Development Vision. Seven select UZPs, under project-supported Upazila Fiscal Facility, completed 104

schemes, of which 62 per cent addressed MDGs, particularly primary education, health and poverty issues. It has

316,455 beneficiaries, of which 116,168 are female. The project also facilitated formation of 214 Women

Development Forums to provide organized platform for elected women representatives to partner and network at

Upazila and district level.

I would like to thank our development partners--European Union (EU), Swiss Agency for Development and

Cooperation (SDC), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) for their continued support. Finally, I would like to thank all the project staff and relevant

government officials for their efforts in making 2013 a successful year for UZGP!

Message from NPD, UZGP

Md. Shah KamalAdditional Secretary (Admin), LGD &

National Project Director, UZGP

List of Acronyms

ADP Annual Development Plan

AWM Alternate Work Modality

AWP Annual Work Plan

BARD Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development

BIDS Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies

BIM Bangladesh Institute of Management

BMDF Bangladesh Municipality Development Fund

CBOs Community-based Organizations

CSOs Civil Society Organizations

DC Deputy Commissioner

DDLG Deputy Director, Local Government

DF District Facilitator

DLG Director, Local Government

DVFs Divisional Facilitator

EU European Union

FP Focal Person

LG Local Government

LGD Local Government Division

LGIs Local Government Institutions

LGSP Local Government Support Programme

LGSP-LIC Local Government Support Programme-Learning and Innovation Component

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MI&E Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation

MIS Monitoring and Information System

MLGRD& C Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives

NAPD National Academy for Planning and Development

NEX National Execution

NILG National Institute of Local Government

NGOs Non-government Organizations

NPD National Project Director

PAG Project Advisory Group

PB Project Board

PM Project Manager

PMU Project Management Unit

PSC Project Steering Committee

RDA Rural Development Academy

SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

SC Standing Committee

ToR Terms of Reference

UFF Upazila Fiscal Facility

UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNOs Upazila Nirbahi Officer

UZGP Upazila Governance Project

UZP Upazila Parishad

UP Union Parishad

UPGP Union Parishad Governance Project

VC Vice-Chairman

WDF Women Development Forum

06 Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)

07Annual Report-2013

2013 witnessed implementation of the Upazila

Governance Project (UZGP) in full swing, despite

frequent disruption. The project strategized to

implement its planned activities, and could do so

ensuring financial delivery and substantial results.

The two-pronged approach of the project has

contributed significantly in enhancing the institutional

and individual capacity of the stakeholders that in turn

impacted on institutional strengthening. UZGP has

significantly contributed in augmenting the capacity of

elected and government officials for effective functioning

of the Upazila Parishad (UZP) in compliance with the

Upazila Act 1998 and amended in 2009 and 2011.

The outreach of Generalised and Specialised training

programme to over 7,000 stakeholders together with

backstopping support by the project teams at the

Divisional and District level helped the elected and

government officials in enhancing their understanding

of legal, administrative and institutional functions and

their corresponding roles which in turn, resulted in

promoting pro-poor service delivery and strengthening

the local democracy. The project published an updated

Upazila Parishad Manual, a compendium of Rules,

Circulars, and Government Orders (GOs) related to UZP

to facilitate effective functioning of UZP.

Significant results were achieved in democratic

functioning and leadership in Upazila Parishads (UZPs)

as 70 per cent of the UZPs held mandatory Monthly

Parishad meetings in 2013, as compared to 30 per cent

UZPs in 2012. Due to capacity building initiatives taken

by the project throughout the year, 100 per cent of UZPs

were able to form their Standing Committees as

compare to 50 per cent in 2012 while 40 per cent of the

UZP Standing Committees conducted mandatory

monthly meetings.

The democratic oversight, civic engagement,

transparency and accountability in local governance

were improved through conduct of seven workshops at

Upazila levels with local administration, civil society,

NGOs and CBOs and associating with respective UZP

Standing Committees and to providing assistance in

formulating Upazila Parishad Development Plan.

In 2013 the project contributed to the preparation of

Annual Development Plan and Budget at Upazila level in

compliance to the UZP Act. All 487 Upazila Parishads

prepared the Annual Budget and submitted to Local

Government Division (LGD) as compared to 20 per cent in

2012. Fourteen pilot UZPs were also able to prepare and

publish their first ever Annual Plan Book with five-year

development vision and submitted the same to LGD.

The institutionalised skills and Fiscal Facility Support by

the project contributed to the attainment of local MDG

targets. The project also demonstrated good practices of

local planning and financing as per local needs. A total

of 316,455 beneficiaries, of which 116,168 are female,

received direct benefit from the schemes. The

institutional capacity development of Upazila Parishad

together with Fiscal Facility Support contributed to

attaining of results MDG-focused pro-poor planning,

budgeting and service delivery.

Fiscal Facility operational guidelines were approved and

distributed to UZPs. Following an independent

performance assessment, seven pilot UZPs

implemented 104 schemes, of which 63 (62 percent of

the total) were MDG focused, particularly in the area of

primary education, health and poverty.

The UZGP, along with Union Parishad Governance

Project (UPGP), facilitated the establishment of Women

Development Forums (WDFs) as a platform for elected

women representatives at local government level.

Project formed 214 WDFs of which 191 are at UZP level

and 23 at District level. The total number of WDF

member in 2013 stands at 7,311. Through Training of

Trainers (ToT), a pool of 278 master trainers were

developed that in turn trained 1,717 WDF members in

65 UZPs. The WDFs has started contributing in raising

community awareness on social and discriminatory

issues i.e. violence against women, stopping early

marriage, dowry, to allocate more development funds in

women issues.

In line with the project’s communication strategy,

community awareness was raised through installation of

551 UZP Information Billboards at 487 UZP offices and

64 Deputy Commissioner’s office premises with detailed

roles and responsibilities of Upazila Parishad. The Project

established a total of 23 knowledge-based Resource

Corners (RCs) at the Divisional and District levels. It has

strengthened its resource base by completing Baseline

Survey, Planning Manuals for UZP, M&E Strategy and

tools for data collection.

Under a shared output with its sister project, UPGP, the

UZGP held five Policy Dialogues at five Divisional

headquarters to dialogue, disseminate and gather

feedback on the state of LG in terms of its effectiveness,

need for reform, policy development, electoral system

and service delivery. The policy advocacy with the

Government has resulted in appointment of designated

Information Officers (IOs) in 14 select UZPs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) is part of the

overall programmatic framework for the UNDP and the

UNCDF support to the Government of Bangladesh in

Local Governance reforms, assisted by the European

Union (EU) and Swiss Agency for Development and

Cooperation (SDC).

The Upazila as an administrative unit and elected body

occupies a strategic, political and administrative position

in Bangladesh. The re-establishment of the Upazila

Parishad (UZP), after a gap of 18 years, created

democratically elected institutions at sub-national level

that act as a structural linkage between Union Parishads

(UPs) and service-delivery line agencies at Upazila level.

The Upazila Act of 1998 that was subsequently

amended in 2009 and 2011 empowered Upazila

Parishad.

The re-introduction of UZPs in 2009 resulted in elections

to 482 Upazilas. The number of Upazilas now stands at

487. With an average population of 300,000, UZPs are

entrusted to anchor local democracy, undertake local

development and ensure efficient public service

delivery within the realm citizen engagement,

accountability and transparency. The government has

undertaken administrative decentralization as 17

designated departments have Upazila level presence.

The Upazila Nirhabi Officer (UNO) has been appointed

to maintain vertical and horizontal administrative

coordination i.e. with central government, UZP and local

administration.

Local Government Institutions (LGIs) in general and

Upazila Parishad (UZP) in particular are facing number of

challenges affecting their efficiency and effectiveness.

The broad range of challenges includes capacity

constraints, limited institutional practice of process

under law and non-availability of elaborative rules and

regulations. Poor coordination between Upazila

Parishads (councils) and the devolved departments

further fiscal constraints in terms of their collective

capacity to plan, budget and ensure service delivery as

per available resources to address local development.

The UZGP is positioned to assist the Government of

Bangladesh in implementation of the local governance

reforms and to contribute in addressing challenges

including participatory decision making, planning, and

budgeting and improved service delivery. The project is

designed to improve functional and institutional

capacities of local government institutions for effective,

efficient and accountable delivery of pro-poor

infrastructure and services.

UZGP AT A GLANCE

UZGP Objectives and Purpose:

The overall objective of the Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) is:

“Government institutions at the national and sub-national levels are able to more effectively carry out their mandates, including delivery of public services, in a more accountable, transparent and inclusive manner.”

The specific objective of the project is “to strengthen the capacities of local governments and other stakeholders to foster participatory local development services for the MDGs.”

To achieve the goals and overall objectives, the project has four outputs:

Upazila Governance Project

Output Target Coverage

Output 1: Strengthened Upazila Parishads as more functional,

transparent and accountable

Output 2: Strengthened Planning and Budgetary system at UZP with

MDG orientation and pro-poor service delivery mechanism

Output 3: Strengthened national capacity for effective policy review,

monitoring, lesson learning and capacity development of local

government institutions (LGIs) for enhanced Local Governance.

Output 4: Effective Project Management Arrangements

487 Upazila Parishads

14 Upazila Parishads/Year on

competition basis from 65 target UZP

Nationwide

Project Offices


The UZGP is Nationally Implemented (NIM) project, in

accordance with the National Implementation Manual,

adopted in December 2004 by the Economic Relations

Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance and UNDP. Under NIM

modality project has following structure:

The National Project Director (NPD), the Additional

Secretary of Local Government Division (LGD), leads the

project. The NPD is assisted by a Joint Secretary, who is

the project’s Focal Person from the LGD and by the

National Project Manager provided by UNDP.

The Project Steering Committee (PSC) is chaired by the

Secretary, LGD, and serves as strategic guidance provider

and oversight body for the project. The PSC is the key

decision-making body for the project and provides

policy guidelines, review project progress against

targeted results and tracks financial delivery. The PSC

members include representatives from relevant

ministries and departments of the Government of

Bangladesh and respective development partners.

The Project Board (PB), chaired by the NPD, is responsible

to oversee the implementation of project activities. The

PB is responsible for preparing and endorsing the annual

and quarterly work plans and progress reports. It

supervises the overall project implementation and

day-to-day management of the project. In comprises of

representatives from UP and UZP, UNOs, the UNDP and

the UNCDF. Project Coordination and Management

meeting are held regularly to aide the PB.

The Project Assurance (PA) role is vested with the UNDP

and the UNCDF. The Local Governance Cluster of UNDP

has overall responsibility for quality assurance, with the

technical support of the UNCDF, for the project. The PA is

to ensure that the project deliver planned outputs as per

the annual work plan, project document and results on

the basis of monthly, quarterly and annual progress

reports.

Implementation Modality

The UZGP intervention areas comprise of seven (7)

districts, one under each Division, and corresponding 65

UZPs. The target districts are --- Kishoreganj,

Brahmanbaria, Sunamganj, Sirajganj, Khulna, Barguna,

Rangpur. The project through its capacity building and

technical policy support extended its outreach to 487

UZPs; whereas Upazila Fiscal Facility (UFF) is targeted for

intensive support to 14 Upazilas. This support will be

extended to 65 UZPs under 7 districts from 2014.

Geographical Coverage of the Project

District UpazilaDivision

Kishoreganj

Brahmanbaria

Sirajganj

Khulna

Barguna

Sunajganj

Rangpur

Dhaka

Chittagong

Rajshahi

Khulna

Barisal

Sylhet

Rangpur

• Kishoreganj Sadar

• Mithamoin

• Brahmanbaria Sadar

• Bancharampur

• Kazipur

• Ullapara

• Dumuria

• Dacope

• Betagi

• Barguna Sadar

• Jagannathpur

• Salla

• Pirganj

• Pirgacha

7DistrictsBarguna, Brahmanbaria, Khulna, Kishoreganj, Rangpur, Sirajganj and Sunamganj.

14 UZPsKishoreganj Sadar, Mithamoin, Brahmanbaria Sadar, Bancharampur, Kazipur, Ullapara, Dumuria, Dacope, Betagi, Barguna Sadar, Jagannathpur, Salla, Pirganj and Pirgacha.

Map of the Intervention Area

UZGP Districts

DINAJPUR

THAKURGAON

RANGPUR

NAOGAON

NAWABGANJ

RAJSHAHINATORE

BOGRA

SIRAJGANJ

PABNA

KUSHTIAMEHERPUR

CHUADANGAJHENAIDAH

MAGURAFARIDPUR

RAJBARI

NARAILJESSORE

SATKHIRA KHULNABAGERHAT

SUNDARBAN FORESTBARGUNA

NAWAKHALI

JHALAKATI

PIROJPUR BHOLA

BARISAL

GOPALGONJ

MADARIPUR SHARIATPUR

MUNSHIGANJ

MANIKGANJ

TANGAIL

DHAKANARAYANGANJ

NARSHINDIGAZIPUR

BRAHMANBARIA

BRAHMANBARIA

MOULVIBAZAR

SYLHETSUNAMGANJNETROKONA

MYMENSINGHJAMALPUR

SHERPUR

COMILLA

CHANDPUR

LAKSHMIPUR

NOAKHALI

FENI

KHAGRACHARI

KHAGRACHARIRANGAMATI

BANDARBAN

COXBBAZAR

PANCHGARH

NILPHAMARI LALMONIRHAT

KURIGRAM

GAIBANDHA

KISHOREGANJ



Capacity building of approx 7000 elected and government stakeholders

100% timely submission of UZP budget to LGD as compared to 4% in 2009-10

70% UZPs are holding Monthly Meeting and preparing minutes as compared to 30% in 2012

Formation of 17 Standing/ UZP Committees in all UZP completed

7,311 women members organized under 214 WDFs and started raising voice to LGIs for

inclusion of women issues in planning and budgeting

Baseline on Upazila Parishad completed, initiation of Citizen Perception Survey, 9 Rules and

Regulations drafted

14 pilot Upazilas prepared, printed & submitted first ever Annual Plan Book

104 schemes approved for 7 UZPs of which 63 were MDG focused with a value of BDT 35

million

25,000 copies of UZP Manual published & being distributed

5 Divisional Dialogues held where 960 participants from different section of society took part

551 Billboards with charter of duties of UZPs displayed at all 487 UZP premises and in 64

Deputy Commissioners’ office

Gender Strategy, Gender Brochure and WDF: Concept to Implementation published and

disseminated to stakeholders

23 Resource Corners established in dists & divisions.

Key achievements of 2013


UZGP Year in

Numbers


442 Stakeholders

from 65 UZPs received specialized traning

104 Schemes

taken by seven select UZPs

14 UZP Informa on, Plan

and Budget Books

prepared

1717 WDF members

received field level training

35 Million BDT

disbursed to seven select UZPsas fiscal facility

4401 Stakeholders

received generalized trainings/

workshops/orienta ons

1735 UZP Chairs, Vice-Chairs and UNOsprovided 3-day General Training

214WDFs

formed at UZP anddistric levels 551

Informa on Billboards onUZP charter of du es installed


Capacity of the Upazila Parishads (UZPs) to perform basic functions has been improved through intensive general

and specialized trainings. The technical assistance provided by the project helped UZPs hold its monthly and

standing committee meetings regularly and ensured participation of appropriate officials including the elected

representatives in line with the law that has enhanced effectiveness of such meetings.

The UZGP has provided a 3-day General Training to 1,735

UZP Chairs, Vice-Chairs and UNOs in 483 UZPs. Of the

participants 503 were female. The training was aimed at

providing them with necessary knowledge and skills to

effectively play their designated role as provided in the

Act in making UZP a pro-poor service provider. The

training has deepened their knowledge and

understanding of the legal and administrative structures

of UZP.

They have also learned how to properly implement UZP

2009 Act, Rules and Regulations. It has also enabled

them to hold monthly meetings and standing

committee meetings as required by the law.

It has also improved their understanding of accounting,

auditing and other requirements for financial

management of public resources at UZP. Additionally, it

has enhanced their capacity to develop and implement

development plan and budget. The training was held in

52 batches and during the period of January and July

2013.

The capacity of the three national training institutions

that provided the training---National Institute of Local

Government (NILG), Dhaka; Bangladesh Academy for

Rural Development (BARD), Comilla; and Rural

Development Academy (RDA), Bogra—has also been

improved through upgrading relevant training

curriculum/module.

Output 1: Strengthened Upazila Parishads as more functional,

transparent and accountable

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS AND RESULTS

Basic Functions of the Upazila Parishads Operationalised

General Training

General Training by UZGP in 2013

SL Designation Female Male Total1

2

3

Upazila Chair

Upazila Vice-Chair

Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Total

0

426

77

503

418

417

397

1,232

418

843

474

1,735

The project has provided a 9-day specialized training to

442 stakeholders from 65 UZPs of seven select districts.

Of them, 77 are female while rest 365 are male. The

training focused on Planning and Budgeting; Leadership

and Management; and Financial Management and

Public Procurement Rules. National Academy for

Planning and Development (NAPD) and Bangladesh

Institute of Management (BIM) in Dhaka have provided

the training in 17 batches.

Specialised Training

UZP Chairs, Vice-Chairs and UNOs received 3-day

General Traning1735

stakeholders received generaised trainings/

workshops/orientation4401

stakeholders from 65 UZPs received 9-day Specialised Training442


Specialized Training by UZGP in 2013

SL Designation Female Male Total

* 2 elected and 3 Acting female UZP Chair Source: Training reports from NAPD & BIM

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

UZP Chair

Vice-Chair

Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Family Planning Officer

Upazila Education Officer

Upazila Agriculture Officer

Upazila Engineer/Assisstant Engineer/Sub-Assistant Engineer

UZGP Official

Total

5*

48

5

7

6

1

0

5

77

49

47

40

49

46

57

56

21

365

54

95

45

56

52

58

56

26

442

UZPs held mandatory monthly meetings70%

UZP standing committees conducted

mandatory meetings40%

UZPs prepared & submitted annual

plan & budget to LGD100%

The trainings carried out by the project have contributed to capacitating 1,410 elected public representatives

and 1,516 government officials that established community of practice for effective functioning and institutional

strength of 487 Upazilas. This positively impacted on behavioural change and contributed to improve, both

individualistic and institutional, coordination and clarity of institutional functions i.e. reduction in conflicting

attitude between and among UZP Chairs, Vice-Chairs and UNOs. It has also helped improve coordination among

them in discharging their respective institutional duties and responsibilities.

The enhanced capacity of the UZP functionaries, thus, in turn, resulted in:

• 70 per cent UZPs held mandatory monthly meetings of Upazila Parishad and its (Standing) Committee

meetings as compared to 30 per cent in 2012

• 100 UZPs prepared and submitted Annual Development Plan and Budget to LGD as compared to 20

per cent in 2012.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

General Training

19321735

1232

503

Target Achievement Male Female0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Specilalized Training

520

442

365

77

Target Achievement Male Female

Capacity Building by UZGP


Success Story-UZGP Trainings

Upazila Now Have Skilled Human ResourcesAs soon as he was elected as Chairman of Dacope Upazila Parishad under Khulna district, S.M. Abul Hossain began to ponder

on how to conduct the Parishad meetings that has not been practiced properly for a while.

‘I found it difficult to grapple with the never-ending list of questions: How the meetings will be conducted? What will happen

after the meetings? What are the meeting documents? etc.,’ he recalls.

‘But today, I can say with utmost confidence that I have

successfully managed and operationalized my individual and

Parishad’s mandate and responsibilities with support from

Upazila Governance Project (UZGP),’ Abul Hossain was

explaining in this way with a sense of satisfaction in his face.

He maintained, ‘The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)

training programmes immensely contributed to orient me

with Local Government (LG) concepts, improved

understanding and practice to apply the Upazila Act and

conduct Parishad’s work.’

Hossain was among the 7,000 select stakeholders--UZP Chairs,

Vice-Chairs, Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) and relevant

officials from devolved government departments at UZP

level---who received a series of orientation workshops,

generalized and specialized trainings focusing on UZP Act and efficacy of local government system.

‘Conducting the UZP meetings was not the only issue for me,’ says Md. Abdur Rouf, Chairman of Adarsha Sadar Upazila,

Comilla. ‘Understanding of the UZP Act to form, activate and conduct 17 UZP committees require higher level of legislative

and institutional understanding, especially in absence of the operational rules and regulations which also required me to

coordinate with government officials,’ he adds.

‘The UZGP-supported trainings answered all my queries to clear my understanding. The manual and notes of the training

became handy guides for me in case of clarification,’ he informs.

The challenge for these stakeholders at operational level was the absence of practice and knowledge set, especially

administrative, functional and policy that can support them in immediate functioning and performance in their new roles.

These stakeholders were expected to pick up their respective institutional mandate and work in a coordinated manner to

deliver a locally prioritized and MDG responsive development and corresponding service delivery mechanism, with scarce

to scattered financial resources.

Without these skills, the institutional mandates and coordination mechanism would be stalled.

One of the major outcomes of the General training was that for the first four key functionaries of UZP—Chairs, Vice-Chairs

and UNOs—were placed together on the same table leading to a positive behavioural change that helped reduce the

juxtaposed attitude both between and among them. This resulted in improved coordination of their respective institutional

duties.

‘The training gave us an opportunity to understand each other’s role and conflicting issues from each other’s perspectives

and institutional mandate. This helped us a lot in revitalizing the UZPs to become functional and collectively solve many

issues which were pending over the years,’ says Md. Shafiul Islam, UNO of Kazipur UZP under Sirajganj district.

The trainings, together with technical and institutional backstopping from the project, have resulted in effective institutional

performance of the Upazila Parishad as 70 per cent held its mandatory monthly meetings; 100 per cent UZPs established its

all 17 committees; 100 per cent UZPs prepared and submitted Annual budget to Local Government Division (LGD) and 14

select UZPs prepared 14 UZP Information, Plan and Budget Books which will soon be replicated by select 65 UZPs under

select seven districts of UZGP.


The technical support provided through the District and

Divisional Facilitators have helped UZPs in conducting

the monthly and standing committee meetings in

compliance with legal requirements that include

assistance in preparation of meeting agenda, working

paper and meeting minutes, etc. It helped the Parishads

in holding the monthly and standing committee

meeting regularly and effectively.

Holding of monthly and standing committee

meetings effectively

In pursuit of raising public awareness and as a part of

advocacy on 21 activities mandated to UZP, the UZGP

has supported the LGD in designing, developing and

installing UZP Information Billboard to all UZPs across the

country. With the support from the project, the LGD

installed a total of 551 UZP Information Billboards in 487

UZP and 64 district offices premises. The billboard entails

21 roles and responsibilities of the UZP that will

contribute to accountability through dissemination of

information to the larger public.

Mass Awareness of UZP Activities

The project has prepared six draft Rules and three draft

Regulations. The drafts are now in the process of field

validations through structured Focus Group Discussion.

It is expected that once approved by the Government,

these Rules and Regulations will further streamline the

functioning of UZP as pro-poor service provider.

Support LGD in drafting of legislation framework

(laws, rules, regulation and guidelines)

To further the policy advocacy and participatory

consultation, the project held seven (7) workshops at

UZP level with local administration and local civil society.

These workshops identified areas of common interest

and opportunities between CSO and UZP. These

workshops promoted participation of NGOs and CBOs in

relevant standing committees of UZP and in providing

assistance in formulation of development plan for

Upazila Parishad. These workshops were held at

Brahmanbaria Sadar, Kishoreganj Sadar, Dumuria, Betagi,

Pirganj, Kazipur and Jagannathpur Upazilas where 238

participants attended, of which 38 were women.

Mapping/Orientation of Local Level

Administration, CSOs, NGOs, and CBOs for

Capacity Development at 7 UZPs

Dialogue Between Local Administration and CSOsDivision UZP Male Female Total Participants

Chittagong

Dhaka

Khulna

Barisal

Rangpur

Rajshahi

Sylhet

B. Baria Sadar

Kishoregonj Sadar

Dumuria

Betagi

Pirgonj

Kazipur

Jagannathpur

Total

18

33

18

20

22

20

69

200

7

7

7

1

1

4

11

38

25

40

25

21

23

24

80

238

The policy advocacy with the government resulted in

appointment of Information Officer in each of the 14

pilot UZPs. The project has trained the designated

information officers to effectively enforce the provision

of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009 at UZP level.

Twelve out of 14 officers attended a day-long training

organized at National Institute of Local Government

(NILG), Dhaka which was structured in six sessions

focusing on a) importance and function of RTI Act, b)

identification of challenges in scope of work on RTI

Act-2009, and c) Way Forward.

“Information Officers” at 14 pilot UZPs appointed and received orientation as per RTI Act 2009

designated UZP Information Officers

appointed 14stakeholders trained7,000

UZP Information, Plan and Budget Books

Prepared 14


14 UZP Information, Plan and Budget Books published

One of the biggest successes the UZGP achieved in 2013

was the publication of 14 UZP Information, Plan and

Budget Books for 14 select UZPs in seven pilot districts

under seven divisions. This was the cumulative results of

3-day General Training, 9-day Specialised Training,

One-day “Planning and Budgeting Exercise” workshop,

technical guidelines and manuals provided to the UZPs.

This was the first-ever Annual Information, Plan and

Budget Book the 14 UZPs has prepared and published

and submitted to the LGD. The UZP Plan Book is the

public document of UZP that contains UZP

geographical information, five-year sectoral vision,

annual plan and budget. The project has extended all

the technical and financial assistance to the UZP to

prepare and print the plan books.


WOMEN DEVELOPMENT FORUM (WDF)

214 WDFs formed

The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) and Union

Parishad Governance Project (UPGP) have jointly facilitated

the formation of Women Development Forums (WDFs) at

Upazila and district levels with the elected women

representatives from UZPs, UPs and Municipalities.

Led by Local Government Division (LGD), a total of 214

WDFs were formed in 2013. Of them, 23 were at district

level while the rest 191 at Upazila level. The total number

of membership of elected women representatives

stands at 7,311. Of them 5,935 at Upazila level while

1,376 district levels. The formation workshops were used

by the WDF to elect their forum leadership that resulted

in 1,969 at Upazila and 242 at District level elected as the

members of their respected WDF committees.

The forum is providing structured capacity building,

partnership building and advocacy forum to the elected

female representatives for their institutional and political

mainstreaming and strengthening. It is playing an

important role as a “Platform for Elected Women” to raise

voices on their issues, capacitate and groom (local level)

women leadership to promote democracy at grass-roots

level. This is also helping them to link with other Civil

Society Organizations (CSOs). The forums are also

assisting the LGIs in gender-responsive budgeting,

planning and interventions and providing inputs for

policy reforms towards promoting gender equality.

Pool of 278 master trainers created, 1,717 WDF members trained

The project has initiated cascade-training programme

for the leadership of WDFs. A pool of master trainers was

also formed by providing Training for Trainers (ToTs) to

278 participants mainly drawn from amongst the local

level government officials. Of them, 90 were female

while rest 188 were male. The master trainers in turn

trained 1,717 WDF members in 63 batches at 65 UZPs.

Immediate Results

WDF helps raising women’s voice on gender equality

WDF formation process was completed by 2013,

subsequently most of the platforms were holding

bi-monthly meetings at Upazila and District levels. The

agenda items for the meetings was diverse that covered

topics such as WDF Annual Work Plan, forum members’

roles and responsibilities, opening of back accounts,

fund-raising, preparation of bye-laws, information

collection, forum office selection, increase women’s

participation in local development activities, building

awareness on social issues through WDF at ward level,

address violence against women (VAW), early marriage,

dowry, identify case against VAW, raise voice at UP, list

local resources and plan to utilize for poor women,

communicate with line departments for solving

problems at UP level, list ultra-poor women at respective

ward, constraints of women empowerment, raise

women’s voice to get allocation from LGSP, UPGP etc.

Some of these issues were also raised by them in the

Parishad (UZP and UP) meetings.

The WDF members participated in month-long

programme of “Nari Sanglap: Apnara Kemon Aschen

(Women’s Dialogue: How Are You?)” led by the Ministry

of Women and Children Affairs. They actively

participated in the dialogue with other participants,

formed women’s chain, discussed local women’s

constraints, raised issues of vulnerability and

underprivileged women.

Gender equality and integration was part of five

divisional-level policy dialogues. The WDF members,

elected women representatives and representatives of

women groups, CSOs and homemakers participated in

it. The construct and execution of policy dialogue was

gender integrated. Besides identifying range of

challenges, many recommendations that come out of

these dialogues gender-focused e.g. a) gender

responsive policy change; b) to elect one man and one

women representatives in each Ward; c) strengthen role

of three women representatives at Ward level; d)

strengthen LGIs to act against discriminatory practices

such as dowry, early marriages and VAW; and e)

introduction of women friendly business environment.

The joint initiatives of the projects of forming the WDFs

has been positively noticed by the different ministries,

including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), to know

more about the WDFs. The Women and Children Affairs

Ministry, at the invitation of Local Government Division

(LGD), took part in a meeting and contributed to

developing the curricula for the forums. The WDF has

already created a momentum among the elected

female representatives of UZPs, UPs and Municipalities,

and it is expected that the forums will play a critical role

raising the issues affecting women at different platform.


WDFs formed 214 WDF members trained 1,717elected women

representatives became WDF members

7,311

Success Story on WDF

Coming Out from Darkness“We Have Come Out From Darkness And Have Found Our Feet To Take Us Towards Our Goal And

Rights” Lipi Akter, a UP member from Naogaon, expressed these sentiments during the orientation workshop

on WDF formation at Sorail Upazila, which was agreed by her colleagues. Little she knew that opportunity to

apply what she and her WDF colleagues have been oriented at WDF formation workshop may just be around the

corner.

A few days later she came to know about the provisions of block grants available to the Parishad; and its emphasis

that 33% of grant must be used exclusively for women development. Lipi Akter, along with her WDF colleagues,

Ms. Shahida Begum and Rashida Begum, UP members Naogaon, started their work to prepare a scheme to

access the grant. While planning towards their goal, they consulted Ward Shava members as well and applied for

scheme worth BDT 90,000 from UP Chairman. The scheme focused on providing income generation

opportunities for poor women of the community and planned to train 10 women on tailoring skills along with

the provision of sewing machines.

They faced reluctance from UP Chairman to accommodate their scheme for allocation of funds. But this did not

deter them and rather they started a vigorous contact campaign to access and secure the funds. Their efforts

were not bearing fruits. Concerned with delays, they decided to raise the bar of their efforts and wrote a formal

letter to DC, UNO, Vice-Chair of Sorial UZP. They involved Chair of the WDF Sorail Upazila, Mahamuda Parvin, and

she took the initiative and arranged a meeting of concerned i.e. UNO, UP members and UP Chairman of Noagaon.

Being well prepared and using their newly acquired agenda setting skills through WDF training, they lead the

deliberation and with their argument convinced the UP Chairman who agreed to accept the scheme and release

funds under intimation to UNO. The scheme is under implementation at the moment.


Output 2: Strengthened Planning and Budgeting System at UZP with

MDG Orientation and Pro-poor service delivery mechanism

Performance Assessment Manual under

Upazila Fiscal Facility (UFF) Support revised

Financial Audit, Minimum Conditions and

Performance Measures Assessments of

Targeted 14 UZPs carried out through

independent sub-contracting process

The project has revised the performance assessment

manual for 2013-14, adding six more composite

performance indicators and raised the maximum score

from 40 to 100. Earlier, the performance of seven UZPs

for 2012-2013 was evaluated against four composite

performance measures having 40 as its total score. The

10 performance areas assess the compliance, as

specified in UZP Act 2009 and its amendment, of a UZP’s

structure, administrative process, financial management,

targeted development expenditure, development plan,

sectoral committees, integration/address social sector in

UZP expenditure, co-financing of UZP development

scheme from multiple sources, coverage of multiple UPs

by UZP development plan and UZP Parishad and

community oversight for UFF schemes.

Under the UFF guideline a maximum ceiling of BDT 5

million has also been set for UFF support. The

assessment provides opportunity to the leadership of

UZP to use this performance to attract parallel funding

from other available sources.

Led by LGD, the project has carried out financial audit,

minimum conditions and performance measures

assessment for 14 pilot UZP though an independent

consultant. The consultant has already submitted a

comprehensive report to the LGD. The first round of

assessment for 7 UZP was against 4 indicators having 40

as maximum score.

Source: UZP Performance Assessment Report

The second round of performance assessment was against 10 indicators having 100 as maximum score:

Round1: Performance Assessment Result

Upazila

Mithamain (Kishorganj)

Bancharampur (B.Baria)

Dacope (Khulna)

Sullah (Sunamganj)

Ullaphara (Sirajgunj)

Pirgachh (Rangpur)

Barguna Sadar (Barguna)

40

40

40

40

40

40

40

29

29

29

30

34

33

31

4,284,736

3,861,813

5,415,361

4,733,769

6,171,434

4,583,900

3,862,936

Max. Score Performancescore

Possible Fiscal Allocation as perPerformance assessment (BDT)

Round-2: Performance Assessment Result

Upazila

Kishorganj Sadar

B.Baria Sadar

Dumeria

Jaggnathpur

Kazipur

Pirganj

Betagi

Kishorganj

B.Baria

Khulna

Sunamganj

Sirajgunj

Rangpur

Barguna

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

68

67

69

72

77

66

67

5,672,242

4,968,339

4,703,638

6,468,493

4,601,626

4,952,006

2,377,304

Max. ScoreDistrict Performancescore

Possible Fiscal Allocation as perPerformance assessment (BDT)

Over


Seven Divisional level Workshops for UZP led

Development Needs Assessment and

Identification of Resources held

The project held seven divisional level workshops on

“UZP led Needs Assessment and Identification of

Resources”. The project has prepared explanatory

guidelines for field staff and the NPD briefed the

Divisional and District facilitators, and DLGs and DDLGs

for joint execution of the activity. A total of 415 officials

of the transferred departments participated in the

workshops and oriented on UZP-led development

needs and identification of available resources.

The institutionalized financial management and

planning skills together with structured fiscal support

guidelines by the project contributed to the attainment

of local MDG targets besides demonstrating good

practices of local development as per local needs. It has

also initiated participatory budget making process i.e.

discussing scheme in UZP sectoral committee, taking

recommendation of the UZP sectoral committees for

Upazila Parishad approval.

BDT 35 m disbursed, 104 MDG-focused

schemes taken in seven pilot UZPs

To support select UZPs to implement MDG focused

development schemes based on their local needs and

priorities, the UZGP has provided two tranches of

Upazila Fiscal Facility Support (UFF) grants in 2013. The

facility has delivered additional financial resources to the

select UZPs to enable the elected local leadership to

play a catalytic role in accelerating local development, as

well as MDGs.

The UZGP, under its fiscal facility support, disbursed a

total of BDT 35 m to seven pilot UZPs. With the grants,

the UZPs has taken and implemented a total of 104

schemes, of which 56 are single sourced and the rest 46

are co-financed with Union Parishad and community

support. The UFF are engendered from criteria setting to

its guidelines to utilization. Of the completed 104

schemes, 63 schemes has directly contributed towards

achieving MDGs, particularly primary education, health

and poverty issues. A total of 316,455 beneficiaries, of

which 116,168 are female have been benefited from

these schemes.

Source: UZGP M&E Report

104 UFF SCHEMES: SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION & MDG COMPLIANCE

54%46%

Scheme finance mode

56 Single financed scheme46 Co-financed scheme

MDG focused 63 schemes

Eradicat ExtremePoverty andHunger 40%

Achive UniversalPrimary Education 16%

Promote GenderEquality andEmpower Women 8%

Ensure EnvironmentalSustanivility 17%

Combat HIV/AIDESMalaria and other

Diseases 5%

Improve MaternalHealth 5%

Reduce ChildMortality 9%

SL

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

B.baria

Kishorgonj Sadar

Jagannathpur

Dumuria

Betagi

Kazipur

Pirgonj

Total

9

8

20

9

28

17

13

104

12050

39370

47088

20535

30200

9840

7085

166168

9850

41030

15334

18618

48100

10440

6915

150287

21900

80400

62422

39153

78300

20080

14000

316455

Name of UZP Total Direct Benificiaries

Female Male

Number ofProject


Success Story-UZGP Scheme

Nazma Weaves a Better Future for Herself Nazma Begum, 40, a poor rural women from Pirganj Upazila under Rangpur district, Bangladesh, is now sure that

her children will not go hungry and can continue their schooling.

Struggling with sheer poverty, she was trying hard to find a work to maintain her six-member family, as her

husband took his bed due to a bone-related disease two years ago.

“My husband has been bedridden for the past two years due to the bone-related disease. It was devastating for

us as he was the sole bread-earner for the family. We have spent all our savings for his treatment, sold our cattle

and I even had to stop sending my children to school due to the financial hardship,” Nazma said, sobbingly.

“But the training in Sataranji gave me a

new hope, a new life, and confidence to

fight against poverty,” Nazma said,

brimming with confidence.

The training has completely changed

the life of Nazma, who had earlier

struggled to earn Tk. 2,000 a month is

now earning over Tk. 6,000. This has

given her a sense of gratification as she

can now give her family a better life. A

real life fighter, Nazma dreams of

something even better not only for

herself but also for the community. She

wants to motivate other poor women in

her community to take training nd

create self-employment for

emancipation from poverty.

She is one of the 30 women who received a new inspiration in life after completing a 15-day “Skill Development

Training in Sataranji Weaving for Women Entrepreneurs” at Pirganj Upazila Parishad, Rangpur district, Bangladesh.

Sataranji is a special hand-loomed and woven carpet typical of Rangpur region and a very unique handicraft in

Bangladesh. The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), under its fiscal facility grant, has provided the financial

support to the training aimed at helping local poor women in Pirganj Upazila, Rangpur, to enhance livelihood

skills of women, particularly the poor and destitute, to eventually bring the ultra-poor communities out of

poverty and to empower women.

“This is not just weaving a carpet or mat...this is weaving a dream, weaving for a better future, a better life,” Nazma

said, beaming broadly. “With the skills I learned from the training and by the money I am making after selling the

products, I can feed my kids better and send them to school again. The training has just given me a ray of hope,

opened up an economic opportunity for better life.” This is a beginning of prosperity for a down-trodden rural

woman who earlier was scared of even dreaming. The support provided by UZGP has transformed a fragile

woman into a confident person, who is becoming inspiration for many others in her community.

schemes directly MDG-focused63disbursed to seven

select UZPs as UFF 35m BDTschemes implemented

in seven select UZPs104


66900

20,400

71,660

128,860

25,750

9,890

17,720

B.baria

Kishorgonj Sadar

Jagannathpur

Dumuria

Betagi

Kazipur

Pirgonj

(341,180) Indirect Beneficiaries of schemes by UZPs

Source: UZGP M&E Report


Driving Away Silent Killer-Formalin “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away,”---Lipi Akter, 30, a mother of two, was following the opposite diet motto religiously

for over the past five years in fear of formalin, the silent killer!

“I can’t give my kids poison. Well, I am depriving them of necessary nutrients, but as a mother, I would not tolerate my kids

swallowing poisonous substance,” she says, venting her anger. A mother, frustrated with the situation due to the malicious

act of unscrupulous traders in the kitchen markets, says: “Not only apple or any kind of seasonal fruits, I was scared of

vegetables and meat too.”

She explained the reason behind all the fear and

frustration was simply -formalin.

“All the food items in kitchen markets were

contaminated with formalin. You will not get

anything---from fish to tomatoes to litchi, mango,

blackberry---free from formalin. All these were soaked

with formalin and poisonous carbide,” says Lipi, also a

housewife hailed from Sajiara village under Dumuria

Upazila, Khulna district.

But a small initiative taken by the Dumuria Upazila

Parishad, with the support from Upazila Governance

Project (UZGP), offered a great relief to the rural

housewives like Lipi.

“You can’t imagine what a great help it is to us. I had

stopped buying fruits and fish from local markers. Now,

with the drive of Upazila Parishad to make the markets

formalin and carbide-free, I have resumed buying and adding fish, vegetable and fruits in my everyday menu,” Lipi said, with

a sigh of great relief.

Over the past few years, the national and local media are regularly running the reports that the sale of formalin-laced food

items has become a rampant practice in all the kitchen markets across the country, raising concern of the people about its

impact on health. Formaldehyde (formalin) is a toxic substance illegally used by merchants to preserve food, making it look

fresh and attractive in the market for longer time, thus maximizing profits. The widespread use of formalin in fruits,

vegetables, fish and meat poses a great threat to public health, and it is extremely harmful to pregnant women and

new-born babies.

“This really gave us a great relief and we don’t have to worry anymore about formalin-mixed foodstuff, especially for our

children,” says Lipi, making an urge to the Upazila Parishad to continue its drive and campaign against formalin and provide

exemplary punishment to the culprits.

21900

80400

62422

39153

78300

2008014000

(316,455) Direct Beneficiaries of schemes by UZPs



Putting Poor Pupils in SchoolWhether it rains or the sun is too hot, Ria Rani Das, 10, doesn’t want to miss her school now.

Coming from a very poor family where her parents could hardly afford two meals a day, Ria, a class five student,

now knows that food is ready for her in school and she would not go hungry all through the day.

“My parents can hardly serve lunch for me always, let alone the breakfast. Sometimes I may have some parched

rice in the morning and have to go hungry the whole day. But now I know for sure that I will not go hungry if I go

to the school,” said Ria, who just have finished her mid-day meal her school served.

Her parents are also more

convinced now than ever before

to send their daughter to school

because they know the school

provides meals to students,

thanks to an Upazila Parishad

(UZP) scheme supported by

Upazila Governance Project

(UZGP).

“I like the food, it’s really delicious

and fills my stomach,” said Ria. Her

mother is a housewife and her

father a rickshaw-puller. They can

hardly afford two meals a day for

their five kids aged between five

to 13.

Like Ria, 500 other Class One to

Class Five students are now

regularly attending the school enticed by the daily meals they receive. Once dull and empty classrooms of the

Nayachilaura Government Primary School in the remotest Chilauradhalipur Union under Jagannathpur Upazila,

Sunamganj district, are now buzzing with energetic children fidgeting, chattering and laughing. Some others are

trying to read rhymes aloud.

“All these were possible for the fiscal facility grants we got from Upazila Governance Project. With the grants, we,

the Jagannathpur Upazila Parishad, took the School Feeding Programme which help attract poor children to

enrol and stay at school and thus help increase enrolment rate and reduce dropouts,” says Muktadir Ahmed,

Vice-chairman of Jagannath Upazila Parishad.

The UZGP, through its fiscal facility support, provided Tk 4 lakh to the Upazila Parishad (UZP) for implementing the

five-month pilot scheme titled “Mid-day Meal for School Student”. The Upazila Parishad launched the programme

at Nayachilaura Government Primary School in November 2013 aims at reducing hunger and malnutrition

among schoolchildren and help keep poor students at schools.

Ranendra Kumar Das, Headmaster of Nayachilaura Government Primary School, said, “The Mid-day meal

programme has already started yielding encouraging results. The number of students in the school was 390 last

year (in 2013) while it reached to 500 by this year (2014). Enrolment is still going on and we hope that more

students will be enrolled soon.

“We have also witnessed the decrease in dropouts and increase in class attendance just because of mid-day meal

programme,” he said, adding, “And surprisingly, the enrolment rate of girls’ is also increasing. About 10 per cent

more girls are enrolled this year than the last year.”


Source: UZP performance assessment report


A Road to Education, Economic ProsperityUnlike previous years, Rina Begum, 36, a mother of three kids, is not very much worried about sending her kids to

schools during the upcoming rainy season.

The housewife from Uttar Karuna village of Hosnabad Union under Betagi Upazila, Borguna district recalls, “Earlier,

rainy season meant a great loss of school days. Rainfall during the four-month period makes the roads connecting

nearby villages to schools inaccessible. Children could hardly use these roads to get to school, leading to loss in

school days.”

Seasonal rain left deep craters in the dirt

road, rendering it inaccessible to any

vehicle. “When it rained, the potholes

turned into lakes,” says Soma Akhter,

daughter of Rina Begum and a Class Three

student at 27 No. Madhya Karuna

Government Primary School. “We, very

often, avoided the road altogether and

drove through the paddy fields inundated

with rainwater.”

“It was better to take boat to pass through

neighbouring small water-body to reach

schools. It was really risky. Lots of

schoolchildren sustained serious injuries

after slipping on the muddy road,” Rina said, adding, “We, the parents, were really scared about our kids...we could

not send them to schools through the dirt road.” “So, it was annual and unofficial vacation for most children, as

well as big disruption to education, says Rina.

A Road to Education

Only recently, after completion of a new road with brick flat soling, Soma now can go to her school everyday

easily no matter how bad the weather is. Her mother, Rina Begum, does not need to worry about her girl now.

The Betagi Upazila Parishad, with the support from Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), constructed the road

which has begun rendering results. Like Soma, 10,500 other students studying at the four primary schools, two

secondary schools and two colleges of two Union Parishads--Hosnabad and Mokamia---under the Upazila have

begun to get the benefit from the all-weather road which enables them to access the schools with greater ease.

“Students, particularly the girls, are now attending schools regularly and we believe that it will have a great impact

on education, reducing the number of absentees and dropouts, in the UZP,” said Md. Zakir Hossain, Assistant

Headmaster of Madya Karuna Government Primary School.The UZGP, under its fiscal facility grant, co-financed to

the UZP in repairing the road.

Reaping Economic Benefits

But the benefits of the road go much further. The new road, made of bricks, connects a number of villages in two

UPs to markets, hospitals, administrative centres, enabling the rural poor to avail of better economic

opportunities and access better health, education and business services. The smoother road not only cut travel

time and cost for the villagers, it is helping the farmers to carry more goods/products to sell in the local markets.

What the villagers are also saying that the smoother road will also save lives, particularly the pregnant women and

children. “Now we will be able to take the patients to UZP Sadar Hospital and other clinics there more quickly,”

said, Runu Begum, one of the inhabitants of South Karuna village.


Output 3: Strengthened technical capacity of Local Government

Division for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson learning and

capacity development of LGIs for enhanced Local Governance

PAG formed

The LGD Secretary has notified formation of a Policy

Advisory Group (PAG) aimed at enhancing the policy

development function in government and create a

coordinated framework for support to the LGI capacity

development. The PAG will learn a review from field

experience and advocate for change at national level. It

will be a “think-tank” of the ministry on key policy issues

led by the LGD. Meeting of PAG could not be held due to

reasons beyond control of the project.

People’s Voices Heard through Five

Divisional Dialogues

The project has facilitated holding of five divisional level

policy dialogues aimed at reviewing and reforming the

policy related to LG electoral system and service

delivery.

A total of 964 participants (772 male and 192 female)

from 35 categories---from lawmakers to government

officials, LGI representatives to professionals, NGOs

representatives, academician, freedom fighter, religious

leader, media, farmer and students participated in the

dialogues held in five divisional towns---Barisal, Khulna,

Rajshahi, Chittagong and Sylhet.

Finance Minister Mr. A M A Muhith attended the first

policy dialogue held in Sylhet while the then State

Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan

Sufian in Khulna. Former LGD Secretary Mr. Abu Alam

Md. Shahid Khan was also present at the policy

dialogues held in Rajshahi and Chittagong.

The participants placed a set of recommendations

including greater role of LGIs, especially in health,

education, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, poverty

alleviation and in promoting gender equality rather than

just concentrating on physical infrastructure

development.

The project has also a plan to hold two more dialogues

in Dhaka and Rangpur and after that it will hold a

national level dialogue with the recommendations

drawn from the seven divisional level policy dialogues to

propose overall policy framework. The proposal for

reforms will be submitted to the government to

strengthen LG service delivery and to bring necessary

reforms in terms of structure and function of local

government institutions.

It is expected that the valuable recommendations made

by cross-section of people participating in the dialogues

will help guide the policy-makers to seriously think

about local governance reforms in Bangladesh. Once

accepted, these reforms will certainly bring about

positive changes in service delivery and democratic

accountability at the local level.

Development of National Framework for Local

Government Policy and Capacity Development

The project has initiated contracting process of

awarding international and national teams to provide

institutional support in conducting transformational

policy studies. The two transformative studies are 1)

Local Government System in Bangladesh: Comparative

Perspective and Practices and 2) First Phase of Policy

Review of Functional Assignment to the Local

Governments (Upazila and Union Parishad levels) in

delivering Health and Education services. The study

reports will be published in 2014. The project has also

initiated a ‘Citizen Perception Survey on Service Delivery

by Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad’. The report of

the survey will be published in 2014.

Support to Policy Support Unit

Though the activities were dropped in 2013, the project

has adopted an alternate strategy to technically

backstop LGD through position paper based input for

institutional strengthening of LGIs in general and UZP in

particular. This resulted in (a) issuance of series of

clarification memos, compliance orders and operational

guidelines to UZP elected and government officials; (b)

structured job description for DLG and DDLG in line with

UZP Act; (c) UZP manual (compilation of legal and

administrative requirements) and (d) guidelines for LGI

for Local Planning (under submission to Planning

Division). All of them directly contributed in effective

functioning of UZP and anchoring of LGI.


Evaluation of quality of training

The evaluation informed that the training contributed to:

• Team Building by bringing public representatives and government officials together. 90 per cent

respondents mentioned that training enabled interactions among the participants even beyond the

classrooms.

• Developing Understanding On Rules and Functions as per the Upazila Act and improved skills in planning,

budgeting and formation of Standing Committees

• In effective Coordination among elected public representatives and government officials

• Augment Women’s Empowerment in UZPs work while female Vice-Chairs’ confidence level improved

The report also identified areas of improvement that included

a) Extend duration from 3 to 5 days

b) Reduce number of participants per batch to max of 25

c) Devise refresher or post-learning mechanism

d) Inclusion of female trainers a resource person

e) Improve logistic arrangement at the training centres

The project has initiated a third party evaluation of trainings provided to the stakeholders over the past two years.

It also assessed the capacity of the national trainings institutes—NILG, BARD, NAPD, BIM, RDA and evaluated the

quality, effectiveness and impact of training imparted by these institutes.

1. Withdrawal of the advisory role of the Member of Parliament (MP) in the Upazila Parishad

2. Comprehensive Charter of Duties for elected and Government Officials of devolved departments including UNOs for improved coordination’s

3. Enhanced administrative support to operationalize and functioning of Standing Committees of UP, UZP Pourashava and City Corporation

4. In the wake of diminishing Rural and Urban divide of LG, initiation of Policy Reform debate to integrate/reduce number of existing LGI e.g. merging small Pourashava and UZPs; not creating or dividing new UPs or declaring them part of Pourashavs

5. Each haat must disclose status of their revenues and services for public consumption

6. Sectoral and departmental resource mapping for each LGI.

7. Increased fiscal allocation for all LGIs.

8. Introduction of a new cadre “Local Government Services” against the deputation system.

9. Removal of discrepancies among LG tiers with reference to allowance and honorarium for elected representatives

10. The re-establishment of Local Government Commission and appointment of Ombudsman

11. Reform of organizational structure of LGI from “Single post (Chair/Mayor) dominated System” to “Council-led institutions” popularly expressed as “Presidential System to Parliamentary System”.

Major Recommendations came up in the dialogues


2nd Edition of UZP Manual Published

In a landmark step to strengthen the capacity of UZP, the

UZGP compiled all the rules, circulars and government

orders related to UZP and printed 25,000 copies of the

manual for stakeholders. The project distributed the manual

to various stakeholders including 487 UZPs and Divisional

and Deputy Commissioners’ offices of the country.

The compendium is helping the UZP functionaries to

remove confusion about the rules and regulations for

effective functioning of the Upazila Parishad.

The UZP functionaries (UZP Chairs, Vice-chairs and

UNOs) often complained of not getting the relevant

circulars and government orders issued by different

ministries and divisions in time. Since publication of the

first edition of the UZP Manual in 2010, key changes

have been introduced in the UZP Act through more

than 50 rules, circulars and government orders, which

were incorporated in the current version.

23 Resource Corners set up at district and divisional offices

In efforts to generate and disseminate knowledge on

local governance among government officials, public

representatives and general people, the project

continued to establish Resource Corners at district and

divisional levels across the country. A total of 23

Resource Corners (12 at local administration offices

while rest 11 at public libraries) have been established,

positioned to knowledge warehousing and increased

access to information for local stakeholders on local

government systems and local democracy. The RC at

district and divisional administration level is targeted to

facilitate the government and elected public

representatives whereas RCs at public libraries are to

facilitate body of academics, researchers and general

public.

The RC is a well-stocked mini-library having all kinds of

local government related laws, rules and regulations,

circulars reports, manuals, audio-visual materials and

books on human development, poverty alleviation and

good governance. The UZGP has provided the financial

support for purchasing the books, furniture and other

necessary equipment for the corners. The facilities at the

RC are open to the public and free of cost.

Prime Minister Praises UZGP

The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) has won

praise from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for

publishing the Upazila Parishad (UZP) Manual (2nd

Edition), a compendium of amended Upazila Parishad

Act in 2011, rules, circulars and government orders

related to UZP.

The PM spoke highly of UZGP at a meeting with

Upazila Chairs and Vice-chairs at Gono Bhaban on 19

October.

“I can’t praise enough...You did a great job,” Mr. Md.

Shah Kamal, Additional Secretary (Admin) and

National Project Director (NPD), UZGP, who was

present at the meeting, said, quoting the Prime

Minister.

“Compiling the UZP Act, Rules, Circulars and

Government Orders related to the UZP and publish

those in a complete book is simply a great job. I lauded

the initiative. It would help a lot in removing confusion

exists among the UZP functionaries on its rules and

regulations,” she added. “I have gone through the

manual several times over the last few days. Please

read the manual minutely and you will have no

confusion on the UZP rules and regulations you are

talking about,” she said, flapping the manual towards

the attending UZP Chairs and Vice-chairs.

“I thanked the UZGP and the Local Government

Division (LGD) for its great effort in compiling all the

rules, circulars and government orders related to UZP

and print those in a complete book,” she says.


M&E Framework and Tools, MIS System

developed

In 2013 support of project specific M&E work, project

developed M&E Plan, Multi-year Monitoring Framework

and Tools. The process includes submission of monthly

to quarterly information on project and field activities by

DF and DVF. Field visits by project staff were also

documented in the form of Back to Office report

through a structured format. Official

website–www.uzgp.org–has been operationalised with

a temporary host site. M&E tools were also developed

and in the field for pilot testing after which it will be

finalized and printed.

Besides, M&E tools reporting formats have also been

prepared that include capacity building /training

reporting format, WDF training reporting format, Upazila

Fiscal Facility Scheme (UFF) reporting format. M&E

strategy was upgraded by developing specific business

processes and plans including operational definition of

indicators and data flow chart.

Development of data base based linked with on M&E

tools have been initiated. A prototype has been

developed to capture data in four customized forms. The

same forms were piloted with the assistance of DVF, DF,

and DDLG from seven Districts.

International Training held in Dhaka

The project arranged for a comprehensive international

training programme at Dhaka, conducted by the team

of experts from The Hague Academy for Local

Governance, the Netherlands. The course was titled

“Decentralization and Local Development in

Bangladesh”. It was a residential training of 5-day

focusing on basic concepts of Decentralization, Public

services management, Public financing for local service

delivery, Fiscal decentralization, and local strategic

planning for poverty alleviation and attainment of the

MDGs. The course also deliberated on state of local

governance, institutional profile of the local public

sector and options for intergovernmental cooperation

and consequent capacity development. The 47 (40 M &

7 FM) representatives came from LGD, NILG, BARD, RDA,

BIM, NAPD and BMDF. This contributed in individual and

institutional capacity building of the core staff of these

institutes, which are engaged with the project for

imparting generalized and specialized training to the

UZP stakeholders.

UZP Information Billboards installed551Policy Dialogues held 5 Resource Corners

established 23


Output 4: Effective Project Management

The PMU worked with full field and HQs staff capacity till

November when 2 of the project staff members i.e.

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and MIS Officer, left

the team. The operation team was heavily involved in (a)

shifting of premises from Dhaka South City Corporation

to NILG; and (b) procurement and disbursement of office

equipment and furniture from HQ to filed level. The

political impasse added additional responsibility on

Project Management team to ensure implementation of

Business Continuity Plan (BCP). During 2013 project

procured 10 vehicles (7 vehicles for Divisional offices and

3 for central project office), 49 desktop computers (21 for

Divisional offices, 7 for District offices and 21 for Central

project office), 49 UPS (21 for 7 Divisional offices, 7 for

District offices and 21 for Central project office), 17

Scanner machine ( 7 for Divisional offices, 7 for District

offices and 3 for Central project office), 17 Printer (7 for

Divisional offices, 7 for District offices and 3 for central

project office), 17 Photocopier Machine (7 for Divisional

offices, 7 for District offices and 3 for central project

office), 7 Air Conditioners for central project office, office

furniture for central project office, installation of PABX

machine with 24 intercom hand set, 6 Fire Extinguisher

for central project office, setup office internet for central

project office and renovation of central project office.

Project Management team also facilitated two Project

Steering Committee (PSC) meetings, two Project Board

(PB) meeting and a Coordination meeting with

Development Partners and UZGP quarterly staff

meetings.

A series of national events including Parliamentary elections and Upazila elections scheduled for 2014 had

made the year 2013 quite challenging.

Since it was the last year for UZP elected representatives in the office, there was lack of concentration and sense

of uncertainty that made the project to provide extra effort in maintaining the momentum of implementation

of project activities.

Since UZGP was the lone donor supported programme at UZP level, there was substantive gap between the

demand and supply of institutional development support at that level.

A total of 77 working days were lost due to political turmoil marked by violent political programmes; the project

however managed to maintain its pace of implementation by organizing programmes/events over weekends,

communicating via Skype, email, cell phone, etc.

The project was able to push start the operationalization of UZP sectoral committee and made UFF grants

available that helped initiate MDG focused development schemes at UZP level; the project also contributed

development and submission of UZP budget by 482 UZPs in a timely manner.

Through provision of technical support and financial resources 14 Target UZPs were able to print first ever UZP

Plan book and sharing of those has influenced another 51 UZPs to publish their Plan Book with support from

the project.

UZGP continued to maintain coordination and collaboration with UPGP in terms of formulation of Women

Development Forum, conducting of five policy studies, etc. The coordinating roles played by the shared staff,

National and International Technical Advisors have been beneficial for both the projects.

Challenges and Lessons Learned



Functional and institutional capacities of local

government institutions

During the reporting period, the UZGP strengthened its

cultivated institutional relationship with UZP Parishad

through continued capacity building initiatives to fulfill

their institutional mandate for service delivery at the

local level. The project supported the smooth

functioning of UZP through range of technical

guidelines for UZPs that were issued by the LGD. This has

established a community of practices with the support

of over 10,000 government and elected representatives

trained by the project to-date that will positively anchor

UZP in particular and LGI in general as critical

democratic institution.

Alignment with national systems

During the reporting period, project continued to

strengthen the UZP functionaries to align their planning

and budget making processes with national system and

requirements. This resulted in 482 UZP’s preparation and

submission of budget in time to the LGD as compare to

only 95 in 2012. Similarly, select 14 UZP prepared annual

plan books containing geographical and statistical

information about the Upazila, annual plan, budget and

5-year sectoral vision. 51 UZPs are also working on the

same. Upazila fiscal support facility has created

demonstrative effect to operationalize the UZP

committee; initiated co-financing with community and

UP funds; and have used ADP funds as well as

co-financer. Collectively, pursuance of processes and

establishing practices is creating foot-prints for next UZP

to follow that ultimately contributes to sustainability.

However, the project assesses that administrative

decentralization of line departments is still struggling for

clarity and the conflicting role of MP in UZP functioning

is a huge challenge to the strengthening of UZP.

WAY FORWARD

SUSTAINABILITY

Year 2014 presents strategic opportunity for the project

to re-align itself with the new tenure of Upazila Parishad.

This will mean for the project to re-cultivate functional

relationship with newly elected UZP members; plan and

execute generalized training for the newly elected UZP

leadership; and continue to use Upazila fiscal facility to

augment both service delivery and strengthening of

local democracy.

Project will continue its efforts to align project goals

towards achieving operational convergence and

alignment at the Upazila Parishads. The UZGP through

UFF will continue to contribute in attainment of MDGs

and facilitate the UZP to prepare MDG aligned plans and

budget. The Citizen Perception Survey will be

completed and would lead to creation of database and

updating of baseline for new UZP tenure. Policy

researches will put-forth the landscape of challenges

and opportunity for policy reform. Collectively, the

analysis will provide insights to fine tune UZGP annual

activities.

Women empowerment will be maintained as corner

stone of project activities. WDF formation will be

completed for remaining UZP and Districts along with

completion of orientation training of the WDF members.

The WDF related work will be jointly performed with

UPGP. Knowledge Management (KM) – generation,

codification and sharing of knowledge - will be retained

as focus area as project will prepare fact sheets and briefs

on its initiatives with outgoing UZP. Policy researches will

be used to activate PAG and further discussion on

strengthening of local democracy.

Engagement with MIE Wing of LGD that could not be

initiated in 2013 will be jointly pursued with UPGP

support to identify that how two projects data can be

used by the government. The projects’ own M&E and

corresponding MIS support will continue for effective

project management and reporting.

The long-term impact of UZGP lies in the manner in

which the learning generated from the project will be

shared and mainstreamed. The project will engage other

donor supported projects to further common objective

of strengthening LGI that include SHARIQUE of SDC,

USAID & UK aid supported project “Democratic

Participation and Reform Program” and JICA’s intended

support for Pourshavas to share and mainstream lessons

learnt.

ANNEXURE


Annex -1

Progress made against LFM indicators

Intervention Logic Objectively Verifiable Indicators Achievements of reporting period

Result 1:

Strengthened Upazila Parisads as more Functional, Transparent and Accountable

By the end of the project, women and men

councilors in all UZPs assert their ability to

participate in debate and influence

decision making to a significantly greater

degree (95% confidence level) than those

in a control group.

By the end of the project, all UZPs are

compliant with 90% of the provisions of

the Right to Information Act

By the end of the project, all UZPs have 6

key standing committees functioning

Baseline value:0

By end of project, women UZP

representatives and functionaries from all

Upazilas participating in officially

registered Women’s Development Fora at

District level.

Baseline value:0

By end of project, all UZPs have prepared a

“Citizens Charter” incorporating

arrangements for UZP-constituent

relations

Baseline value:0

- Over 134 trainings, workshop sessions

& policy dialogues held

- 4131 (3126 Male & 1005 female)

elected & Government representatives

trained

- 70% UZP holding monthly meeting &

Standing Committees formed

- 12 out of 14 GoB designated RTI officers

in 14 traget UZPs trained

By end 2013:

100% Committees formed

70% UZPs held mandatory meetings &

prepared minutes

100% UZPs prepared & submitted budget

to LGD

14 target UZPs prepared & printed Annual

Plan Book (Annual plan+Budget+5 year

vision); 51 under progress

214 WDF formed: 191 at UZP and 23 at

District Total members 7,311 from UP, UZP

& Pourshavas 278 Master Trainers trained

(90 Male & 188 Female) 1,717 elected

women representatives trained

Due to political impasse this activity could

not take place

Result 2:

Strengthened planning and budgeting system at UZP with MDG orientation and pro-poor service delivery mechanism

A draft horizontal and vertical assignment

of key development functions at Upazila

level is agreed with GoB by project

mid-term and is tested in 21 Upazila by

end of project.

Baseline value: 0

Upazila Fiscal Facility (UFF) technical

guidelines revised and approved by LGD


By end of project, 14 Upazila have each

produced development plans responding

to local MDG assessment

Baseline value: 0%

In final year of project, at least 90% of

performance-based grants are allocated to

projects identified as MDG-responsive in

annual development plans

Baseline value: First round PMS

By end of the project, all selected Upazilas

will have had at least one development

intervention addressing needs of the

identified most vulnerable groups (such as

the Dalits or other locally excluded groups)

Baseline value: 0

Assessment of Minimum Conditions,

Performance assessment & Audit

completed for 14 target UZPs under

revised guidelines

By 2013, 63 schemes out of approved and

under implementation 104 schemes are

MDG and gender responsive i.e. 62%

Result capture in field will be reported in

2014

Result 3: Strengthened national capacityfor effective policy review, monitoring, lesson learning and capacity development of LGIs for enhanced Local Governance

Policy development: By end of the project,

at least 2 legislative or regulatory

instruments influenced by outcome of

piloting activities are drafted and

approved.

Baseline: current set of legislative and

regulatory instruments

Capacity building: By end of the project, the

Policy Advisory Group has prepared and the

GoB has adopted a National Framework for

Local Government Capacity Development

Baseline: No draft framework exists

Monitoring: By end of the project, the

Monitoring, Investigation and Evaluation

Wing of LGD has a functioning MIS capturing

key data on local government performance

Baseline: Only a project based MIS (and in

early design stage) is used by LGD

Backstopping: By the end of the project, the

DLG has a sustainable system for monitoring

and backstopping local governments

Baseline: No system in place

No national firm could qualify to undertake

research under procurement process of the

UNDP. Due to political impasse

international consultant incoming mission

were with held. Following 2 policy

researches will start in 2014:

1. Local Government System in

Bangladesh: Comparative Perspective

and Practices

2. Policy Review of Functional Assignment

to Local Governments (Union Parishad

and Upazila levels) in the delivery of

health and education services

6 Rules and 2 Regulations to elaborate UZP

Act initiated

PAG could not meet

Project M&E strategy and tools in place to

capture the data.

Project’s elaborated M&E tool and being

used to aide DLG/DDLG backstopping


The following expenditure arrived in 2013 as per final combined delivery report of 2013 against Annual Work Plan

2013

Annex -2

Statement of Expenditure 2013

Outputs Budget

(in USD)

Expenditure

(in USD)

Percentage of

Expenditure

Total

Output 1: Strengthened Upazila Parishads as morefunctional, transparent and accountable

Output 4: Effective Project Management

Output 2: Strengthened Planning and Budgetary system at UZP with MDG Orientation and Pro-poor service delivery mechanism

Output 3: Strengthened National capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson learning and capacity development of local government institutions for enhanced Local Governance

1,399,260 1,508,807 108%

946,786 368,331 39%

333,414 137,296 41%

1,003,375 1,028,305 102%

3,682,835 3,042,738 83%


Annex-3

List of IEC Materials and Knowledge Products

Baseline Survey Report on Upazila Governance in Bangladesh

Upazila Parishad Manual (2nd Edition)

Manual for General (Refresher) Training

Manual for Specialised Training

Upazila Fiscal Facility Guideline

14 Upazila Information, Plan and Budget Books

UZGP Fact Sheet

Gender Strategy

Joint Communications Strategy

Women Development Forum (WDF): Concept to Implementation

Engendering Local Government Institutions

Upazila Fiscal Facility: Integrating local planning and Resources for the MGDs

Five Briefs on UZGP


Annex-3

Images of IEC Materials and Knowledge Products



Annex-4

UZGP in News

Empowering local govt institutions stressed Star Report Speakers at a policy dialogue on local governance yesterday stressed the need for empowering local government institutions (LGIs) at all levels to deliver quality services to the citizen. The policy dialogue was held at the deputy commissioner’s office in Khulna, says a press release. The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), being implemented by the Local Government Division (LGD), organised the dialogue to create and collect public opinions on local governance reforms. The speakers demanded that overlapping functions between LGIs and government functionaries at all levels such as union, upazila and district be removed. State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monuujan Sufian, as chief guest, said the government was committed to reforming and developing the existing local government system. Md Shah Kamal, additional secretary (admin) of LGD and national project director of UZGP was present at the programme as special guest.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Strengthen local govt bodies for development: Speakers

Reported on: August 31st, 2013 07:18:45 pm

Khulna, Aug 31 (UNB)- Speakers at a policy dialogue on local governance on Saturday stressed the need for empowering local government institutions (LGIs) at all levels to deliver quality services to the citizen.

It was also observed that most of the efforts of local government institutions (LGIs) concentrate on micro-infrastructure such as roads and culverts while services like education, health, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, sports and culture remain neglected.

They made the observations at the policy dialogue held at Conference Room of Deputy Commissioner’s office. The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), being implemented by the Local Government Division (LGD), organised the dialogue aimed at crea ng public opinions on local governance reform from local level func onaries, public representa ves, general ci zens and members of the Civil Society Organiza ons (CSOs) and NGOs, said a press release.

‘Strengthen local govt instts’

Sunday, 15 September 2013

Author / Source: BSS

RAJSHAHI, SEPT 14: Speakers at a daylong workshop said strengthening the Local Government Ins tu ons (LGIs) has become essen al for eleva ng the living and livelihood condi on of the grassroots people especially the poor and marginalised groups. They viewed cherished and overall development of the na on couldn’t be possible through keeping the local government bodies neglected and weakened. Du es and responsibili es of the elected public representa ves par cularly the women in reserved seats need to be specified. Besides, pro-people services and policy has become indispensable to make the local bodies effec ve and func onal. Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) and Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner’s office jointly organized the divisional workshop tled “Services and Policy of Local Government Ins tu ons” held at Nanking Darbar Hall. State Minister for Industries Omor Faruk Chowdhury, MP, addressed the inaugural session as the chief guest with Commissioner of Rajshahi division Helaluddin Ahmed in the chair. Ziaur Rahman, MP, Ishaque Hossain Talukder, MP, Shahiduzzaman Sarker, MP, Local Government Division Secretary Abu Alam Muhammad Shahid Khan, Director of UZGP Shah Kamal and Assistant Country Director (Head of Local Governance Cluster) Shaila Khan also spoke on the occasion.

Strengthening local govt stressed to promote democracy Our Correspondent . Barisal

Participants in a daylong divisional workshop on Friday in the Barisal city stressed strengthen capacity of local government institutions to play an instrumental role in transforming them into fully functional, democratic and transparent entities.

They also underscored the need for drastic reforms to the existing local government system and amendments to the related acts to enable elected representatives of people to work independently and effectively.

The workshop on ‘service and policies of local government institutions’ under Upazila Governance Project was held at Barisal Model School and College auditorium. Local government division under ministry of local government, rural development and cooperatives organised the programme for creating and collecting public opinions on local governance reforms.

European Union, the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera on, UNDP and UNCDF providing financial and technical assistance to the project, the organisers said.

Promotion of Democracy Call to strengthen local govt→ A Correspondent BARISAL: Par cipants at a day-long divisional workshop on Friday in Barisal stressed the need for strengthening the capaci es of local government ins tu ons to play an instrumental role in transforming them into fully func onal, democra c and transparent en es. They also laid emphasis on carrying out more reforms in the exis ng local government system to enable elected representa ves of people to work independently and effec vely. The workshop on ‘Service and Policies of Local Government Ins tu ons’ under Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) was held at Barisal Model School and College auditorium. Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Coopera ves organised the programme to collect public opinion on local governance reforms. European Union (EU), the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera on (SDC), UNDP and UNCDF are providing financial and technical assistance to the project.

Created on August 30, 2013 at 23:08

Strong local government a must for flourishing democracy Our Correspondent, Barisal Development

Service-orientation should be improved in areas related to health, education, agriculture, isheries, livestock, poverty alleviation and gender development

Strengthening capacities and transforming local government institutions is necessary for them to play an instrumental role as functional, democratic and transparent entities, said speakers at a workshop.

Stressing the need for drastic reforms of existing local government structures, speakers urged the government to amend related laws so elected representatives are able to work effectively and independently.

The observations were made at an Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) workshop titled “Service and Policies of Local Government Institutions” held in Barisal.

Participants said the government must take credible steps to strengthen local governance and it is crucial for citizens to be empowered so they can demand quality service delivery in a transparent, accountable and inclusive manner.

The programme organised by the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Coopera ves, is part of the project for which the European Union (EU), Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera on (SDC), United Na ons Development Programme (UNDP) and United Na ons Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) are providing financial and technical assistance.


Saturday, 31 August 2013

Policy dialogue stresses drastic reforms in local govt system BARISAL, Aug 30 (UNB): Speakers at a policy dialogue on local governance on Friday stressed the need for drastic reforms in the existing local government (LG) system.

They made a set of recommendations for bringing reforms to the LG system including removing overlapping functions of government departments and local government institutions (LGIs) of Zilla, Upazila and Union Parishads at all corresponding levels.

The recommendations include, among others, balanced allocation of resources, changing existing chairmen and mayor-dominated proto-type presidential system into a parliamentary one and withdrawal of the role of MPs (members of parliament) over the local bodies. The recommendations came at the policy dialogue held at the Barisal Model School and College auditorium in Barisal.

The speakers also recommended for more service-orientation, especially in health, education, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, poverty alleviation and gender development, rather than only physical infrastructure development, says a press release.

The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), being implemented by the Local Government Division (LGD), organised the dialogue aimed at creating and collecting public opinions on local governance reforms from local level functionaries, public representatives, general citizens and members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and NGOs.

The European Union (EU), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), UNCDF and UNDP, are providing financial and technical assistance to the project.


UZGP in Photos

Participants including

elected public

representatives and

government officials

are attending a 3-day

General Training

organised by Upazila

Governance Project

(UZGP) at National

Institute of Local

Government (NILG)

Dhaka.

Mr. Shah Kamal,

Additional Secretry,

LGD and National

Project Director, UZGP

is giving lecture at a

session of a General

Training organized by

the project.

From left- Ms. Shaila Khan, Assistant Country

Director and Head, Local Governance

Cluster, UNDP Bangladesh, and Mr. Shah

Kamal, Additional Secretary, LGD and NPD,

UZGP are distributing certificates among

the participants of a 9-day Specialised

Training organised by UZGP.


Mr. Akram-Al-Hossain,

Joint Secretary, LGD

and Focal Person,

UZGP is facilitating a

session of a 3-day

General Training

organised by UZGP at

NILG.

This group photo was taken after the

participants completed a 3-day General

Training organised by UZGP at Bangladesh

Academy for Rural Development (BARD),

Comilla.

The designated

Information Officers of

14 select Upazilas are

attending a day-long

training organised by

the project at NILG.


A farmer is speaking

at an Open Budget

Session at Devhata

Upazila in Sathkhira .

In line with the project’s

communications strategy, community

awareness was raised through

installation of 551 UZP Information

Billboards at 487 UZP Offices and 64

Deputy Commissioner’s Office

premises with detailed roles and

responsibilities of Upazila Parishad.

A snapshot of a

meeting on

formation of Women

Development Forum

(WDF) held at

Badarganj Upazila

Parishad, Rangpur.


In efforts to generate and

disseminate knowledge on local

governance among

government officcials, public

representatives and general

people, the project established

Resource Corncers at district

and divisional levels.

Finance Minister Mr. A M A Muhith is speaking as Chief

Guest during a Policy Dialogue jointly organised by the

UZGP and UPGP in Sylhet.

UZGP has facilitated

holding of five

divisional level policy

dialogues aimed at

reviewing and

reforming the policy

related to LG electoral

system and service

delivery.


Participants are attending

a 5-day Training on

Decentralization and

Local Development at a

city hotel in Dhaka. The

UZGP has organised the

comprehensive training

which was conducted by

the team of experts from

the Hague Academy for

Local Governance, the

Netherlands.

Group photo from 5-day Training on Decentralization and Local Development conducted by the Hague Academy

for Local Governance, the Netherlands.


The project has provided a “15-day Training

on Pottery” in Pirganj Upazila Parishad,

Rangpur, aimed at creating

self-employment for ultra-poor women and

empowering them.

Representatives of the development partners

including European Union (EU), Swiss Agency

for Development and Cooperation (SDC),

United Nations Capital Development Fund

(UNCDF) and United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) are looking at

handi-craftsin Rangpur prepared by women

with support from the project.

A 15-day “Skill

Development Training

in Sataranji Weaving for

Women Enterprenuers”

provided by the UZGP

at Pirganj Upazila

Parishad, Rangpur

district helped rural

poor women to

enhance their

livelihood skills which

evatually bringing the

ultra-poor communities

out of poverty and

empowering the

women.


Members of the

Project Board (PB) of

Upazila Governance

Project (UZGP) are

attending a meeting at

NILG, Dhaka. The

Project Board (PB),

chaired by the NPD, is

responsible to oversee

the implementation of

project activities,

preparing and

endorsing the annaul

and quarterly work

plans and progress

reports.

Staff of the

Upazila

Governance

Project (UZGP) are

attending a Staff

Coordination

meeting of the

project at

National Instituite

of Local

Government

(NILG), Dhaka.

Members of the Project

Steering Committee (PSC)

sits in a meeting at LGD

Conference Room. The

PSC, chaired by the

Secreatry, LGD, serves as a

strategic guidance

provider and oversight

body for the project. The

PSC is the key

decision-making body for

the project and provides

policy guidelines, review

project progress against

targetted results and

tracks financial delivery.

Upazila Governance Project (UZGP)Local Government Division

Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives

Project Office National Institute of Local Government (NILG), 3rd Floor,

29, Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207Tel : (+88-02) 8181109-10, 8181112-13

Website : www.uzgp.org

Documents

Annual Report 2013 - UNDP...Upazila Parishad Manual, a compendium of Rules, Circulars, and Government Orders (GOs) related to UZP to facilitate effective functioning of UZP. Significant